Saskatchewanprovince of Canada, one of the Prairie Provinces. It is one of only two Canadian provinces without a saltwater coast, and it is the only province all of whose boundaries are wholly artificial (i.e., not formed by natural features). It lies between the 49th and 60th parallels of latitudeand , it is bounded on the west by longitude 110° west of Greenwich, and its eastern limit, with minor adjustments, is longitude 102° W. Its southern half is largely an extension of the Great Plains of central North America, rarely rising 2,000 feet (610 metres) above sea level, and its northern half, most of which lies in the ancient rock mass of the Canadian Shield, is sparsely populated bush country with many lakes and tundra. It measures 760 miles (1,223 kilometreskm) from south to north, tapering from a width of 393 miles (632 km), where it abuts Montana and North Dakota in the United States) , to 277 miles (446 km), where it meets the Northwest Territories). Saskatchewan is Canada’s fifth largest province in area and sixth in population. Saskatchewan’s landscape makes its inhabitants conscious of the sky, and the changing patterns of light and shadow on clouds, which commonly offer magnificent sunrises and sunsets, are as much a part of the scenery as any contour of the earth. Economically, the province has always been heavily dependent on the exportation of its agricultural and mineral products and is thus peculiarly sensitive to fluctuations in world markets beyond its own or even Canada’s control. Area: 251,367 square miles (651,036 square kilometreskm). Pop. (2006) 968,157; (2009 est.): 1,023213,810.Physical and human geographyThe landReliefAlthough familiarly known as one of the Prairie Provinces, Saskatchewan has little native prairie; a large proportion of its productive acreage (half the province) is rolling ranch and parkland, both of which offer immense vistas from their higher points. There is not a single mountain in the province, although the term is loosely used to identify several landmarks. The Cypress Hills, in the southwestern corner of Saskatchewan, include the provincial summit: 4,816 feet (1,468 metres) above sea level. The hills constitute the only part of the area to escape glaciation and contain unique plant and animal life. Wood Mountain (3,275 feet) and the Vermilion Hills (2,500 feet) are some of the province’s other major departures from the rolling plains topography815.

Land

Relief

The most important division of the land in Saskatchewan is between the northern one-third of the province, which is part of the Canadian Shield, and the plains, which cover the southern two-thirds. The Canadian Shield is an area of mostly igneous and metamorphic rocks of Precambrian age (about 540 million to 4 billion years old); hence, it is often referred to as the Precambrian Shield. The plains comprise a wedge-shaped succession of sedimentary rocks, the oldest of which abut the shield margin while the youngest occur in the Cypress Hills in the southwestern portion of the province. The highest elevations in Saskatchewan are also found in the Cypress Hills, peaking at 4,567 feet (1,392 metres) above sea level. These hills—the only part of Saskatchewan that escaped glaciation—contain unique plant and animal life. The lowest point in the province, 699 feet (213 metres), is in the extreme northwest.

Continental glaciation greatly influenced Saskatchewan’s landscape, scouring and molding the northern shield to produce a landscape of rocky outcrops, lakes, and rivers. Glacial deposits on the shield tend to be thin and discontinuous. The southern plains are covered with a veneer of sediments laid down by retreating ice sheets and their meltwaters. The most important agricultural regions occur in areas of finer-grained sediment, while rolling hills of hummocky moraine and other coarser-grained sediments are primarily used for ranching. Cut into the plains are many spectacular river valleys, including those of the North and South Saskatchewan rivers and the Qu’Appelle River.

Drainage and soils

Many of these river valleys were carved by meltwaters during the retreat of the ice sheets.

Drainage

Some one-eighth of Saskatchewan’s surface area is covered by water, including Lake Wollaston

Lake

and large portions of Lake Athabasca and Reindeer Lake.

The province drains

Water flowing through the province’s rivers drains variously to the Atlantic and Arctic oceans and to the Gulf of Mexico. Most of Saskatchewan’s waters flow from west to east, its great rivers (which provided the first transportation routes) rising in the Rocky Mountains and emptying ultimately into Hudson Bay. The

soils through which the rivers flow are predominantly chernozemic (dark-coloured grassland) and podzolic (light-coloured forest) with extensive deposits of poorly drained mineral and peat soils in the north.ClimateThe climate keeps much land out of agricultural production. In the southern half of the province

northwestern portion of the Precambrian Shield, however, drains into Lake Athabasca and then to the Beaufort Sea via the Mackenzie River. The extreme southwestern portion of Saskatchewan, including the Frenchman River, is part of the Missouri River drainage basin that empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

Soils

Saskatchewan’s soils can be broadly divided between the forest soils of northern regions and the grassland (prairie) soils of the south. The former tend to be thin and acidic, light in colour, and infertile. Poorly drained peat and mineral soils are also common in northern Saskatchewan. Grassland soils vary in colour from very dark (almost black) in the more humid central zones to dark brown over much of the southern prairie and lighter brown in the drier southwest regions. Climate is a major determinant of soil type. The black and dark brown soils are the most fertile and support the majority of agricultural production.

Climate

Climate is a major limiting factor for agriculture, restricting it to the area south of 55° N latitude. Even within this zone, there are as few as 80 to 100 frost-free days annually. Temperature variations are extreme; January temperatures have fallen below

−65 °F (

the mid −60s F (about −53 °C) in settled parts, and in July temperatures

upward

of

105

more than 100 °F (about 41 °C) have

often

been recorded. The normal mean daily reading for the arable regions ranges from −5 to 10 °F (about −21 to −12 °C) in January and from

55 to 65 °F (

the mid-50s to the mid-60s F (about 13 to 18 °C) in July.

Precipitation generally is not high

In other words, Saskatchewan has a variable climate with cold winters and warm to hot summers. Because the province lies in the continental interior, precipitation is low, averaging from about 10 to 20 inches (

255

about 250 to 510

millimetres

mm) each year;

snowfall

most winter precipitation falls as snow, which ranges from about 30 inches (

760 millimetres

about 750 mm) in the southwest to more than 60 inches (about 1,

525 millimetres

500 mm) in the north-central area. Drought years are not uncommon.

Plant and animal life

Saskatchewan from north to south is marked by six recognizable bands of natural plant life, all running in a northwest-southeasterly direction and roughly following the pattern of soil

deposits. Farthest north is the subarctic forest tundra, south of which lie the northern coniferous forests and then a strip of mixed forest. The most northerly agricultural belt is aspen parkland, parts of which are still being cleared. The two most southerly bands are composed of midgrass prairie and shortgrass prairie. The

zones. The northeastern corner of the province consists of subarctic woodland in which widely spaced black spruce and jack pine occur amid lichen ground cover. To the southwest of the subarctic woodland lies the northern boreal forest, also mostly black spruce and jack pine but much more densely packed. South of the shield margin, where soil cover is thicker, the predominantly coniferous northern boreal forest gives way to a mixed forest belt known as the southern boreal forest that includes stands of broad-leaved trees such as trembling aspen. Some parts of the southern boreal forest were cleared for farming (especially during the 1930s), but no agriculture occurs north of this zone. South of the southern boreal forest lies the aspen parkland, which represents a transition between the forest and grassland belts. This is the most densely settled zone in rural Saskatchewan, partly because many First Nations (Indian) Reserves are located there and partly because farms are generally smaller than those farther south. The two most southerly vegetation bands are composed of mixed prairie and dry mixed prairie, dominated by mid-height and short grasses. The relative abundance of short grasses increases as soil moisture decreases. The three most southerly zones produce a rich profusion of attractive wildflowers

, many of which also, paradoxically, qualify as noxious weeds.The vast unsettled parts of Saskatchewan support a large wildlife population of great variety. Grizzly bears and mountain lions are now rare, but wolves, black bears, moose, deer, caribou,

.

Many animal species—wolf, bison, grizzly bear, and black-footed ferret, to name a few—were extirpated from the more-settled regions of the province by the early 20th century. Through conservation efforts some of those species have made a comeback. Cougars are seen occasionally along the river valleys. Wolves and black bears occur in northern Saskatchewan. Moose, deer, elk, and antelope are common regionally,

together with enormous numbers of smaller mammals

although caribou numbers have declined. Coyotes, foxes, and lynx, together with the gophers (Richardson’s ground squirrel), rabbits, and other creatures they prey on, are abundant

, and the province supports a considerable amount of trapping

. Saskatchewan is on the main western flyway of waterfowl, songbirds, hawks, and owls, many of which nest in the province. North America’s first bird sanctuary was established on Last Mountain Lake, near Regina, in 1887. Regrettably, loss of habitat has meant the decline of many prairie species. The province’s extensive water resources maintain both commercial and game fish

in quantity

. Northern Saskatchewan

,

particularly

,

is a haven for the hunter and angler.

Pollution

The lack of heavy industry and of large metropolitan areas keeps Saskatchewan relatively free of the kinds of pollution associated with high population density and manufacturing, but the extensive agricultural development subjects it to

those

the kinds connected with weed killers, insecticides, fertilizers, and

insecticides

livestock. Significant amounts of mercury have been found in fish and birds, and continuing research suggests that the amount of contamination in wildlife may be larger than had been apparent. The sources of the major rivers also subject Saskatchewan to upstream pollutants from areas over which it has no control

; but prevailing winds do not come from heavily polluted regions, and the air is generally clean, though an occasional northern forest fire

. Development of oil (tar) sands in northeastern Alberta is of particular concern, contributing to the pollution of the Athabasca River, which drains into Lake Athabasca, and also to acid rain, formed from emissions released during processing of the oil sands, which poses a threat to Saskatchewan’s forests. Smoke from forest fires periodically casts a pall over thousands of square miles to the south. Frequent strong winds produce dust clouds.

Settlement patterns

Saskatchewan’s landscape makes its inhabitants conscious of the sky; and the changing patterns of light and shadow on clouds, which commonly offer magnificent sunrises and sunsets, are as much a part of the scenery as any contour of the earth. All of Saskatchewan is farther north than any of the most densely populated parts of Canada, and the province’s own north is largely inaccessible except by air, with the result that few citizens are familiar with it. Saskatchewan’s best-known regions and sites are its main agricultural and recreational areas: the wheat belt, the ranching country, the Qu’Appelle valley, the Cypress Hills, Lake Diefenbaker, Waskesiu Lake, the old fur-trading routes and trails and their inevitable forts, and the sites of Saskatchewan’s few battles.

Saskatchewan is not dominated by any metropolitan centres. Unlike most Canadian provinces, Saskatchewan has in effect two capitals: Regina, the official capital, in the central south, and Saskatoon, 160 miles to the north. Both cities are growing rapidly. Other major cities include Moose Jaw and Prince Albert. Because the four largest cities maintain less than 50 percent of the population, a small-town character is maintained. The most striking man-made feature of the landscape has been for decades the grain elevator, and the typical village is clustered around three or four of these structures. But changing technology has been making the elevators obsolete, and they are being replaced by facilities set farther apart.

The peopleThe

People

Population composition

The population has changed markedly during the area’s history. It was originally exclusively American Indian (First Nations), to which French and British elements were added during the 18th and early 19th centuries, and as well as a large population of mixed origin, the Métis, developed. Then other European groups—German, Austrian, Ukrainian, Scandinavian, Russian, and Polish, among others—were attracted, some by generous homestead grants, and some in part by a desire to avoid compulsory military service in Métis (people of mixed Indian and European ancestry, whom the Canadian government granted legal recognition as a native group at the beginning of the 21st century). Following construction of a transcontinental railway in the early 1880s, further settlement spread across the plains. In addition to British and eastern Canadian settlers, other Europeans—notably Germans, Austrians, Ukrainians, Scandinavians, Russians, and Poles—came to the area. Some were attracted by generous homestead grants; others came to escape religious and political persecution in their own countries. The period of heaviest immigration was between 1900 and 1920, when the . The population rose suddenly from less than 10091,000 279 in 1901 to nearly 700,000. The population of British origin was, by the late 20th century, less than 40 percent. 757,510 in 1921. Many of these groups , including the British, settled in separate communities where they could use their own language and continue their own religion and customs, and . Saskatchewan contains many settlements readily identifiable as being of Ukrainian, French Canadian, German, or Germanother ethnic origin.

Since the 1960s (when Canada adopted a point system for vetting potential immigrants based on education, work experience, knowledge of English and French, and other factors) an appreciable number of migrants immigrants have come from India South and East Asiahave arrived, settling mainly in the cities. Provincial law permits the use of languages other than English in schools for specific purposes, and widespread advantage has been taken of the law. By the early 21st century more than half of Saskatchewan’s population claimed multiple ethnic origins. First Nations and Métis accounted for approximately 15 percent of the total, but “visible minorities” (which the Canadian government defines as “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour”) were still fewer than 5 percent. Ethnic variety is matched by that found in religious affiliation; the largest churches are the United Church of Canada, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Ukrainian Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Mennonite, Presbyterian, and Baptist. Population growth The major cities also have small Muslim, Hindu, and other religious communities.

Settlement patterns

All of Saskatchewan is farther north than any of the most densely populated parts of Canada, and the province’s own north is sparsely settled and inaccessible except by air and by the few roads that service northern mines. Saskatchewan’s best-known regions and sites are its main agricultural and recreational areas: the wheat-oilseed belt, the ranching country, the Qu’Appelle Valley, the Cypress Hills, Lake Diefenbaker, Waskesiu Lake, the old fur-trading routes and trails and the forts that sprang up along them, and the sites of Saskatchewan’s few battles.

Saskatchewan’s rural landscape was strongly influenced by the Dominion Land Survey System, which divided the prairies into townships that measured 6 by 6 miles (10 by 10 km), each of which was divided into 36 1-square-mile (2.5-square-km) sections. Each of those sections was then further subdivided into fourths, many of which had been available as free homesteads. As a consequence of the arrangement of the survey and the provisions of the Homestead Act, rural settlement typically consists of dispersed, isolated farmsteads. Most urban settlements were created to service the rural population and were, therefore, located at relatively equal intervals along railway main lines and branchlines. Cities grew at nodes in the railway network.

In the early 21st century fewer than 15 urban settlements qualified for city status, and only two were of significant size: the provincial capital, Regina, and its slightly larger sister city, Saskatoon. Both serve slightly different functions within the urban system. Regina, the main administrative centre, has strong financial and commercial sectors. Saskatoon is the main service centre for the mining industry and is the home of a number of biotechnology firms, a teaching hospital, and a university. Together, these two cities include more than one-third of Saskatchewan’s population. Other major cities include Moose Jaw and Prince Albert. By the early 21st century about two-thirds of Saskatchewan’s population was considered urban.

Because of the modernization of agriculture in the period since World War II, Saskatchewan’s rural population has been declining. Consequently, there is less need for the smaller urban centres, many of which disappeared as their inhabitants migrated to the cities. One major change that accompanied the shift in settlement patterns was the decline in the number of wooden grain elevators; once ubiquitous, they have been replaced by a much smaller number of large concrete or steel grain-handling facilities. This restructuring of the rural landscape was associated with the closure of many railway branchlines.

Demographic trends

Since the middle of the 20th century, population growth in Saskatchewan has been generally slow because of the declining birth rates and high emigration rate, which exceeds immigration. This is attributed to rate of out-migration. The latter resulted largely from reduced employment opportunities brought about by increases in the efficiency of Saskatchewan’s basic industries , which can steadily produce more with less manpower. Internally, the province, although still one of the least urbanized, has one of the highest rates of urbanization in Canada, the growth coming chiefly from the movement of rural dwellers into urban areas.

The economyResource exploitationSaskatchewan’s economy, since its beginning,

and the lure of jobs elsewhere, especially Alberta. In the first decade of the 21st century, net migration patterns were reversed, however, as expansion of the province’s resource industries provided new job opportunities. Immigration also increased, although it remained low compared with more-metropolitan regions of Canada. The most obvious demographic trend has been the increase in the number of people identified as First Nations or Métis. This population tends to be younger than the non-aboriginal population and tends to have higher birth rates.

Economy

Origins

From the beginning Saskatchewan’s economy has been based on extractive industries:

forest products

furs, fish,

furs

forest products, agricultural products,

oil

and

gas, and potash

minerals. In almost all cases, the products are consumed outside the province and generally outside Canada, a situation that makes

the province

Saskatchewan one of the most economically vulnerable areas in the world.

A grain belt, made up predominantly of wheat but also including large acreages of barley, oats, rapeseed (canola), flax, and rye, lies between the southern border and the 54th parallel of latitude. Potash is found in a narrower

Because of its dependence on external markets, Saskatchewan’s economy has internally required a variety of governmental supports. As a result, the province has never had a true free-enterprise system, and public enterprise and mixed public and private ventures have characterized the development of the economy from the outset. The first waves of settlers, attracted to Saskatchewan by federal policies, were carried on railways built with federal assistance. From 1897 to 1995, Saskatchewan grain moved to federal terminal elevators at controlled freight rates. Within the province, the political parties in power, regardless of ideology, have sponsored and maintained public ownership of a bus company, an insurance company, and the utilities, as well as publicly operated hospitalization and medical care. The degree of commitment to public ownership has varied over time, however, and a variety of once publicly owned companies have been privatized.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

Agriculture has been a mainstay of Saskatchewan’s economy since the late 19th century. The initial focus was on small family farms, many of which produced wheat for external markets. The number of farms peaked in the 1930s at about 142,000. By the early 21st century that number had fallen by more than two-thirds, and the average farm size had increased dramatically. Saskatchewan has a large percentage of Canada’s farmland and the largest average farm size of any province. Although wheat remains the major crop, both the amount of wheat and the amount of land devoted to its cultivation have declined while production of canola (rapeseed) and specialty crops such as mustard, peas, and lentils has increased. In some regions livestock raising is prominent.

Although approximately two-fifths of Saskatchewan is covered by forest, the forest industry is small and mostly concentrated in the southern boreal forest. The only pulp mill is located at Meadow Lake in the northwest part of this zone. Commercial fishing and trapping are also concentrated in northern Saskatchewan but employ only a small number of people.

Resources and power

Saskatchewan has a wide variety of mineral resources, including oil, potash, and uranium. Potash, which is mainly used for fertilizer, is found in a band running diagonally across the province from west to east, its northernmost point being west of Saskatoon.

Oil and gas lie in the southernmost quarter of the province, while there are rich uranium deposits in the north; there also

Saskatchewan is the world’s largest producer and exporter of potash. The province is also a significant producer of oil and natural gas. Rich uranium deposits support mines in northern Saskatchewan, and diamonds of industrial quality were discovered in the 1980s. Other significant minerals include gold, salt, sodium

sulfite

sulfate, lignite, zinc, copper,

gold,

and a variety of clays.

Most of Saskatchewan’s electrical energy is derived from coal-powered thermal plants. There are several small hydroelectric dams, and considerable investment has been directed at alternative energy resources such as wind power and biofuels.

Manufacturing

In terms of employment, manufacturing has always played a relatively minor role in the provincial economy

and is characterized by several hundred small establishments, most of which have only a few dozen employees.

Government policies

The Saskatchewan economy, always dependent on external markets, has internally required a variety of governmental supports; as a result the province has never had a true free-enterprise system, while public enterprise and mixed public and private ventures have characterized the development of the economy from the beginning. The Canadian protective tariff, long criticized by prairie dwellers because it made them pay more for goods of all kinds, appears to be the mainstay of the developing secondary industries. The first waves of settlers, attracted to Saskatchewan by federal policies, were carried on railways built with federal assistance. Saskatchewan grain moves to federal terminal elevators at controlled freight rates. Within the province, political parties in power, regardless of ideology, have sponsored and maintained publicly owned utilities, a bus company, an insurance company, and public hospitalization and medical care. Nonetheless, in the 1960s and again in the ’80s the people elected governments that stressed private capitalism.

TransportationModern Saskatchewan was originally

. Several factors have limited the growth of manufacturing: transport and tariff policies that favoured Canada’s industrial core in southern Ontario and Quebec, insufficient basic infrastructure, and local markets that were too small to sustain a large manufacturing sector. Nevertheless, the sector has been expanding, and many manufactured goods are exported. Prominent industries include those that add value to provincial resources (e.g., heavy-oil upgraders, pulp milling, and canola-crushing plants). Other manufacturers produce intermediate goods, such as chemicals and machinery, for the resource sector. Food processing is among the more important consumer industries. Most manufacturing takes place in small or medium-sized plants, the majority of which are located in the larger cities.

Services, labour, and taxation

In spite of Saskatchewan’s heavy reliance on its resource sector, most employment and much of provincial gross domestic product are derived from service industries. The majority of these services relate to health care, education, and business. Little specialization occurs.

Saskatchewan’s wage levels for both industry and agriculture are never among the lowest for the provinces but are rarely among the highest. Taxation in Saskatchewan has often been higher than in neighbouring provinces. At the beginning of the 21st century, taxes were reduced and incentives implemented to encourage development of the resource sector.

Transportation and telecommunications

Modern Saskatchewan originated with the creation of transcontinental railroads, which carried settlers and supplies in and grain out. Though freight remains an important rail component, passenger

carriage has declined, and

services have been reduced or abandoned. The province is now crisscrossed with highways.

The system of land division in the rural areas provides for

At the beginning of the 21st century, Saskatchewan had the distinction of having more miles of road infrastructure per capita than any other subnational administrative unit in North America. In rural areas the Dominion Land Survey System provided “road allowances,” strips of territory a mile or two apart that serve as simple, mostly dirt, roads, which when dry are firm and passable and widely used for local travel.

Except for recreation, water transportation is all but obsolete in Saskatchewan

; small

. Small shallow-draft steamers formerly sailed the main rivers, but, since the rivers are shallow with shifting sandbars, they have not been significant transportation routes since before World War I. Airlines, by contrast, have developed dramatically in Saskatchewan

, where approximately half the province is accessible only by air

. Small planes serve the north for both commercial and recreational purposes, and

all

major centres are on scheduled

airlines

airline routes.

Administration and social conditions

Regina and Saskatoon are the principal hubs.

Telecommunications began in Saskatchewan in the late 19th century. Its first significant use was during the suppression of the second Riel Rebellion of 1885. Because of the huge distances and cost of establishing a telecommunications network, private industry showed little interest in the province, and consequently a major part of the network was, and still is, publicly owned.

Government and society

Constitutional framework

Saskatchewan’s constitution, based on custom and the Saskatchewan Act of 1905, provides for a British parliamentary system, in which the life tenure of the executive depends on the support of a majority in the legislature. A general election must be held every five years ; short of that period, the premier may advise the holding of an election at any time, and most assemblies last only four yearson a set date. As in all the provinces, the lieutenant governor is appointed and has become by custom and judicial decision the counterpart of a constitutional monarch, whose position and powers are largely symbolic. Saskatchewan’s larger centres have their own local police, but in the province as a whole the law is enforced by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Unlike those of Canada’s other Prairie Provinces, the Saskatchewan legislature has a long tradition of strong vocal opposition in the assembly, with the Liberals and the New Democratic Party (NDP; formerly the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation) traditionally providing what was a two-party system ideologically divided into free enterprise (e.g., Liberal, Progressive Conservative, and Saskatchewan parties) versus democratic socialism . Since (New Democratic Party [NDP], formerly the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation). In the 1970s the Progressive Conservatives have gained support at the expense of the Liberals, and they became the governing party in 1982, temporarily ousting the NDP. Like the The NDP returned to power in 1995, and the Progressive Conservatives reconstituted themselves into the Saskatchewan Party in 1997. The Liberals, the Progressive Conservativesdraw , and the Saskatchewan Party all drew their greatest strength from rural areas; the New Democrats have . The NDP has a stronger urban base. The governing party is vigorously opposed by the others, with the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives generally espousing base in urban areas and in the northern portion of the province. The right-of-centre parties have generally espoused development of the province by business and corporate meansand , while the NDP strongly urging has generally supported the use of public and cooperative enterprise. However, it was the NDP government that introduced policy changes, including reduced royalties, that encouraged renewed investment in the resource sector.

The province is divided into a multiplicity of local administrations including hospital districts and school districts, all constitutionally under provincial jurisdiction but all having considerable local responsibility. Municipal government in Saskatchewan is based on the U.S. mayor-council model, with a mayor elected separately from the council , and with a number of appointed boards and commissions operating largely independently of either.

For most much of its history the province Saskatchewan has qualified for the kinds kind of federal aid available to those provinces whose economy operates below the national average. The province’s reliance on federal subsidies as a percentage of total revenues , though it varies with crop conditions , is generally above the national average. Saskatchewan’s wage levels for both industry and agriculture are never among the lowest for the provinces but are neither among the highest. and mineral revenues. When these are high, Saskatchewan no longer receives subsidies but instead contributes to the support of other regions of Canada.

Health and welfare

The province’s “middle” position carries over into its internal affairs: it is socially and economically (except for its poor American Indian and Métis peoples) one of the least-stratified areas in Canada, having little of great individual or corporate wealth on the one hand , and little general destitution on the other. Average income is somewhat below the national average, but participation in the labour force tends to be higher and unemployment lower. Saskatchewan’s First Nations, and to a lesser extent its Métis, are generally more disadvantaged than other Saskatchewan residents, with lower incomes and higher unemployment rates. Although only half of First Nations people still live on reserves, many lack the education needed to qualify for good jobs, especially if they live in rural areas remote from employment opportunities.

Education

Saskatchewan provides free education for children from kindergarten to grade 12, funded partially through provincial grants and partially through municipal taxes. Public schools, “separate” schools for Roman Catholics, a small number of Francophone schools, and independent (mostly religious or special purpose) schools all receive funding from the provincial government. Private, for-profit schools raise their funds through school fees.

Secondary education needs are met by a variety of regional colleges, vocational institutions, and universities. Several of these (most notably, Gabriel Dumont Institute and First Nations University of Canada) were designed to cater to the First Nations and Métis population. The province’s oldest institution of higher education, the University of Saskatchewan, was established at Saskatoon in 1907. The university has produced much fundamental research that is particularly relevant to Saskatchewan (for example, it houses the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, one of the most powerful third-generation synchrotrons in the world). Both the University of Saskatchewan and the smaller University of Regina have associated research parks that combine the skills of the private sector and university researchers. At Saskatoon the biotechnology industry is prominent, whereas the Regina Research Park focuses on energy-related research.

Cultural life

Although lacking great metropolitan centres, Saskatchewan has developed creditable art galleries

and

as well as professional theatre and

opera companies; even so,

musical venues. The Regina Symphony Orchestra, founded as the Regina Orchestral Society in 1908, is the oldest continuously performing orchestra in Canada. However, provincial audiences are small, and many artists leave for careers elsewhere. Writing in and about the province, always strong, has blossomed since the 1960s, and the same is true of painting and sculpture.

Saskatoon and Regina have excellent civic auditoriums, and Saskatoon has an outstanding branch of the Western Development Museum, whose chief exhibits, outmoded farm machinery and automobiles, are annually refurbished in a celebration of pioneer days. The province is well

The province has produced a number of visual artists including the modernist group known as the Regina Five. A number of Saskatchewan natives have also made their marks as performers, including actor Leslie Nielsen, radio and television host Art Linkletter, and popular musicians Joni Mitchell, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Colin James. The province is served by the radio and television networks of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

, augmented

and by private broadcasting services.

The

province’s oldest recognizable cultural institution is the University of Saskatchewan, established in 1907 and, with remarkable foresight, given a huge campus at Saskatoon. The university has produced much fundamental research relevant to Saskatchewan (it maintains, for example, an Institute of Space and Atmospheric Studies that has done extensive research on the aurora borealis) and has also a tradition of extension services on and off campus. It has sent forth a steady stream of distinguished workers in a variety of fields, from theatre to nuclear physics. As a result of the limited opportunities available, not many of these have been able to remain in the

province

. The province

is

also

noted for the number of professional hockey players and curling champions it has produced. The community-owned gridiron football team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, of the Canadian Football League, enjoys provincewide support.